Gerard Deulofeu

[davek]

I can't agree more with you one this. People also talk about loyalty from players that are non existent in modern football...but at the same time I am amazed at how quickly fans opinions change regarding players depending on what the manager or media says.

He plays very well at Milan and in most games he had a huge impact even if he didn't score or assist. Even Spain thinks he is now getting good enough for their team...yet at Everton we think he is not good enough for us and slate him wherever we can. That is not the Everton I got used to over the years...where we slate players just because the manager or media says something.

It's a policy of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Get rid of a player who can fire up Milan and get Spanish call ups.

Sorry, but we are not at that stage yet...not by a long chalk. I suggest the Dutchman gets his thinking cap on and change course over this.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Is there any reason you left Koeman off that list? He does precisely the same. It was a seamless transition for him into Pocettino's set up at Southampton and what he's done so far since being here is to get hold of the two flair players we had, punt one and clip the wings of the other.

Because you don't buy Schneiderlin, play Gareth Barry, rehabilitate Ross Barkley or play Baines Mirallas etc. if you are only interested in pressing the other team into submission. Koeman likes to press normally to win the ball but when we have it we try and dictate with Schneiderlin spreading play to the full backs of playing into Ross and Davies. When you watch Liverpool if they have it at the back they invariably go long and look to pressure the second ball, win it back high up the pitch then play one ball into an attacker.

 

[davek]

Because you don't buy Schneiderlin, play Gareth Barry, rehabilitate Ross Barkley or play Baines Mirallas etc. if you are only interested in pressing the other team into submission. Koeman likes to press normally to win the ball but when we have it we try and dictate with Schneiderlin spreading play to the full backs of playing into Ross and Davies. When you watch Liverpool if they have it at the back they invariably go long and look to pressure the second ball, win it back high up the pitch then play one ball into an attacker.

Claptrap.

All teams that press as their identity try and do things with the ball when they get it. It's a nonsense to call Spurs and Liverpool anti-football. If you do it with them you have to include what Koeman does here.

 

[Mogwai]

When has he ever had a consistent run of games? I am sure he would shine if given the chance.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Claptrap.

All teams that press as their identity try and do things with the ball when they get it. It's a nonsense to call Spurs and Liverpool anti-football. If you do it with them you have to include what Koeman does here.

They are varying degrees on a sliding scale. Most teams press, most teams then do stuff once they have the ball. At one end I believe is Klopp though, I've not seen his teams build up from the back successfully against a packed defence, they want to rob the oppositions defence or holding mid then a quick one two and they are in. All teams would like to do this when they don't have the ball, but when they do have it they want to create. I've seen Liverpool's CBs deliberately hoof a ball into the channel willingly turning possession over then a coordinated rush after it by attacking players. When we get the ball we try and build through the midfield, that is the key difference.

I'm as big a fan of Deulofeu as anyone, I think he's magic. Koeman doesn't think we can carry him though and when you look at some of the football round the league now it's hard to disagree.

 

[welshtoffee]

What is the issue with his fitness, always looked completely knackered after 30 minutes.

 

[davek]

They are varying degrees on a sliding scale. Most teams press, most teams then do stuff once they have the ball. At one end I believe is Klopp though, I've not seen his teams build up from the back successfully against a packed defence, they want to rob the oppositions defence or holding mid then a quick one two and they are in. All teams would like to do this when they don't have the ball, but when they do have it they want to create. I've seen Liverpool's CBs deliberately hoof a ball into the channel willingly turning possession over then a coordinated rush after it by attacking players. When we get the ball we try and build through the midfield, that is the key difference.

I'm as big a fan of Deulofeu as anyone, I think he's magic. Koeman doesn't think we can carry him though and when you look at some of the football round the league now it's hard to disagree.

We've been doing that all season. Everton are second only to Burnley in terms of long balls played; Liverpool are 11th in the PL.

Rank Club Stat
1.

Burnley 2,411
2.

Everton 2,226
3.

Middlesbrough 2,128
4.

Leicester City 2,083
5.

West Bromwich Albion 2,063
6.

Hull City 2,052
7.

Crystal Palace 2,044
8.

West Ham United 2,028
9.

Tottenham Hotspur 1,986
10.

Watford 1,984
11.

Liverpool 1,982
12.

Swansea City 1,969
13.

Stoke City 1,929
14.

Sunderland 1,883
15.

AFC Bournemouth 1,855
16.

Chelsea 1,827
17.

Manchester United 1,729
18.

Southampton 1,703
19.

Manchester City 1,562
20.

Arsenal 1,411

https://www.premierleague.com/stats


Liverpool have no target man up front, so I doubt that's a tactic they deploy too often other than to mix up the tactics every so often.

 

[Khalekan]

Tactical systems should be built to incorporate these artists in the team. So what if he doesn't track back or press, Idrissa Gueye can't put a ball on a plate for Rom 2 to 3 times s match but doesn't get slated for it. Sadly nearly every manager now consigns flair players to the wing where their defensive frailties do the least damage but they still end up annoying them so they move back to these defensive mid heavy formations.

Want to blame anyone? Blame the likes of Klopp Pochettino Simeone etc. who have basically perfected anti football. It used to be that you'd get cultural clashes, a free flowing Arsenal v long ball Stoke etc. Both styles could co exist and whichever side executed it better would win the day. What the three above preach is the destruction of the other teams football, run like dogs and get in their faces so quickly that any passing football is pretty much impossible. Even probably the greatest free flowing possession midfield of all time in Xavi Iniesta Busquets have been neutered by this. What it does is forces the other team to get to that level, to clear any ball upfield quickly and run after that even harder. Any team that dares not conform gets absolutely destroyed like Arsenal Spurs and us all have done trying to play possession football at Anfield.

The bottom sides have learnt how to counter it. Sit deep and let them have the ball, don't build any attack of your own, just turn them round with the long ball continuously until they make a mistake.

The first half of the Derby at Goodison saw us match up to Liverpool in this respect, McCarthy and Gueye tearing after Can and Henderson in a battle of yarddogs. As soon as we reduced the intensity with Barry coming on we were so worried about getting caught on the ball we just sat off.

Sadly in all these different scenarios a player like Deulofeu doesn't fit. If even the greatest are now being stifled by the yarddogs of the football circuit, whatjope for a player as streaky as Deulofeu? I thought Guardiola's Barca would bring around the rebirth of the attacking football we all love to watch and what this club is based on. Sadly it just spawned a complete overreaction to it from managers now considered geniuses for nothing better than implementing a hard running game but with class players. In my eyes the likes of Klopp Pochettino Simeone regardless of the trophies they win are actually worse exponents of percentage football than any of the old dinosaurs like Pulis Bruce or Allardyce. At least the old school actually back their style no matter how ugly it is to watch and involves a little bit of trying to create something yourself. Drilling 10 outfield players just to do nothing but harangue the opposition for 90 minutes is cowardly and anti football. When poor teams give Liverpool the ball they struggle to create anything attacking wise for themselves.

If Liverpool played Atletico in Europe I wouldn't be surprised if both sides left the ball in the centre circle waiting for the other team to take possession. That sadly is the direction they have now taken the game. Unless you're armed with Messi Iniesta and Xavi you can't play football against it, even with these you might still get done. What hope does a talent like Deulofeu have in this environment?

Superb post, Dom

 

[Saint Domingo]

We've been doing that all season. Everton are second only to Burnley in terms of long balls played; Liverpool are 11th in the PL.

Rank Club Stat
1.

Burnley 2,411
2.

Everton 2,226
3.

Middlesbrough 2,128
4.

Leicester City 2,083
5.

West Bromwich Albion 2,063
6.

Hull City 2,052
7.

Crystal Palace 2,044
8.

West Ham United 2,028
9.

Tottenham Hotspur 1,986
10.

Watford 1,984
11.

Liverpool 1,982
12.

Swansea City 1,969
13.

Stoke City 1,929
14.

Sunderland 1,883
15.

AFC Bournemouth 1,855
16.

Chelsea 1,827
17.

Manchester United 1,729
18.

Southampton 1,703
19.

Manchester City 1,562
20.

Arsenal 1,411

https://www.premierleague.com/stats


Liverpool have no target man up front, so I doubt that's a tactic they deploy too often other than to mix up the tactics every so often.

Our football was poor first half of the season no doubt. You can't say though that we don't try and play on the front foot. That's the difference. We can go long and we can counter attack but our primary way of playing when we get the ball is to get it down and play. Other teams have built a tactical model around purely playing on the counter attack.

Back onto Deulofeu I'd love him to return.

 

[kenada_blue]

Not good enough for Everton.

Again.

 

[Llyrap]

We had an good start and then the wheels fell off and we were losing and it looked a bit grim. To stop the rot Koeman got us playing very basic football and to be fair it worked. Once we had some confidence and settled on a formation (including Davies) we started to play a bit more football. I would hope that if we had those statistics since christmas we would be lower down the long ball league! Nothing wrong with a good long ball!

 

[Goat]

We've been doing that all season. Everton are second only to Burnley in terms of long balls played; Liverpool are 11th in the PL.

Rank Club Stat
1.

Burnley 2,411
2.

Everton 2,226
3.

Middlesbrough 2,128
4.

Leicester City 2,083
5.

West Bromwich Albion 2,063
6.

Hull City 2,052
7.

Crystal Palace 2,044
8.

West Ham United 2,028
9.

Tottenham Hotspur 1,986
10.

Watford 1,984
11.

Liverpool 1,982
12.

Swansea City 1,969
13.

Stoke City 1,929
14.

Sunderland 1,883
15.

AFC Bournemouth 1,855
16.

Chelsea 1,827
17.

Manchester United 1,729
18.

Southampton 1,703
19.

Manchester City 1,562
20.

Arsenal 1,411

https://www.premierleague.com/stats


Liverpool have no target man up front, so I doubt that's a tactic they deploy too often other than to mix up the tactics every so often.

We have played 13,183 passes, 2,226 were considered long, 2,057 went backwards, so that means that roughly 7,000 passes went forward with a passing accuracy of 82%.

Hardly the stuff of long hopeful punts up field.

Compared to last season, when we made 23,888 passes, 88 were considered long, 21,455 went backwards and roughly 2,000 forward passes.

 

[davek]

We have played 13,183 passes, 2,226 were considered long, 2,057 went backwards, so that means that roughly 7,000 passes went forward with a passing accuracy of 82%.

Hardly the stuff of long hopeful punts up field.

Compared to last season, when we made 23,888 passes, 88 were considered long, 21,455 went backwards and roughly 2,000 forward passes.

You made that up.

 

[Efcjake]

 

[Callum_efc]

Barca still have a first option with Deulofeu?